1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to methods and systems for treating skin conditions. Particularly, the present disclosure is directed to the treatment of skin conditions in a manner that is assisted and/or enhanced by use of plasma.
2. Description of Related Art
There are numerous chronic skin diseases and conditions for which there is a lack of optimal treatments. These include acne, rosacea, dermatitis, chronic wounds, actinic keratosis, basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, Bowen's disease, hailey-hailey disease, pemphigus, cheilitis, impetigo, cellulitis, psoriasis, and many others. There are yet additional skin conditions that are considered more “cosmetic”, such as vitiligo, wrinkles (rhytids), large pores, sagging skin, lentigo (tattoos, scars, hyperpigmentation, etc.), hemangiomas, and others. Some of these conditions are caused by infectious pathogens and others are caused by problems in the immune system leading to inflammations and other symptoms. Still others are cancers or pre-cancerous lesions caused by accumulation of mutated cells. Current treatments for these indications include topical drugs, systemic drugs and electrical or laser-based heating. Each of these treatments suffers from one or more shortcomings as described below:
Topical Drugs—have some effectiveness at killing the underlying infections, but can generate pathogenic resistance, leading to decreased efficacy. Dosing cycles can also be long—they can run from 6 to 18 months in some cases—or inconvenient (multiple applications per day), which can lead to reduced patient compliance. Also, some topical drugs can cause severe skin irritation and erythema, such as imiquimod, a treatment for actinic keratosis. Yet other limitations of topical drugs and creams include the inability to inhibit recurrence of the problem.
Systemic drugs—can also be effective at killing the underlying infection, but have several potential side effects (such as liver failure) and can require relatively long dosing cycles (daily pills up to 6 months). Common examples include terbinafine and itraconazole.
Electrical or laser-based heating—various approaches have been attempted. However, most involve attempting to provide the heat required to kill the pathogen while preserving the underlying tissue. These attempts have proved difficult to implement in practice due to poor control of the heat distribution. This poor localization of the heat can lead to damage to the surrounding tissue or limited effectiveness in achieving the desired effect on the targeted tissue. The present disclosure presents improvements on the state of the art as set forth hereinbelow.